Thank you, Chair.
Thank you for being here this morning, Minister, and congratulations on your appointment. I hope you enjoy the portfolio as much as some of the people do who sit at this table and who understand the importance of citizenship and immigration policy to Canada.
You certainly seem to appreciate that, given your opening statement about the meaning of Canadian citizenship. I think that's why the folks who run into these problems are really disturbed and anxious when they're told that somehow they have to prove they're Canadian citizens, when they've assumed all their lives that this was the case. To be told, “You haven't lost your citizenship, you've just lost proof”, is a bit hard to hear sometimes. To most people, that sounds like exactly the same thing. I can understand why people are very upset when they're confronted with that moment.
Minister, I appreciate you saying that you're open to reviewing the Citizenship Act and hearing new legislation, but we've heard that a number of times around this table. We certainly heard it from the last government, from the two ministers in the 38th Parliament who both encouraged us to work on citizenship issues and then never produced legislation.
I am concerned that your government has taken the money that was set aside out of the budget for developing a citizenship act, and that this money has been removed. Maybe you can comment on why that was done and why that development money is no longer there. It seems to me that if we are serious about fixing some of the issues with regard to the Citizenship Act, that money is very important to the process.
Minister, I wanted to ask something specifically with regard to some of the lost Canadians, and that's about the situation of children born to armed forces personnel who were serving overseas during the period from 1947 to 1977. This group has been in touch with me, and they are very concerned about the circumstances in which they find themselves.
They're being told they have to have a document known as the Registration of Birth Abroad, when many of them have a Department of National Defence-issued certificate of birth. They're finding that birth certificate is not acceptable proof of citizenship when they apply for passport applications.
I'm wondering if you can tell me what the exact problem has been with the DND-issued certificate of birth for these children who were born to Canadian armed forces personnel serving overseas during the Cold War period.